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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28380975">rooks, knights and brown eyes</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/arctichorizons/pseuds/arctichorizons'>arctichorizons</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>drabbles [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Queen's Gambit (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon Continuation, Denial of Feelings, Drabble, F/M, Resolved Sexual Tension, Strip Chess, Unresolved Feelings, although he told her to, benny did not forget about sex, neither did beth, speed chess, this is only a drabble i’m so sorry, will finish it when i get inspiration!!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-11 00:53:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,118</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28380975</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/arctichorizons/pseuds/arctichorizons</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ever since the night she won big over him in speed chess, Benny had been gloomy. Harder on her during their training. Exchanged less words.</p>
<p>  He wasn’t jealous. Or angry. Or bitter. It wasn’t those feelings who made him retreat from her. The thing that was bothering him was that he couldn’t figure out why he felt the way that he did.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Beth Harmon/Benny Watts</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>drabbles [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1783027</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>86</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>rooks, knights and brown eyes</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Ever since the night she won big over him in speed chess, Benny had been gloomy. Harder on her during their training. Exchanged less words.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He wasn’t jealous. Or angry. Or bitter. It wasn’t those feelings who made him retreat from her. The thing that was bothering him was that he couldn’t figure out why he felt the way that he did.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The morning after hadn’t been bad. A little tense, but they <em>had</em> said good night in quite an abrupt way. Benny had realised that bringing up chess strategy as pillowtalk wasn’t the best idea. But the thing was; he was all out of ideas. He didn’t know how to take her on.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He used to always know. Hell, he would from all the nights he had had through his years as a champion. Women liked that he was. And his hair.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">But with Beth, there was something very different. He was... nervous. Tensed up whenever she came too close. Froze whenever she held his dark stare with her own warm gaze and those big, intense eyes during a game. It pierced right through him. He wouldn’t say it made his brain melt, but it was close. Very close.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">One night, about a week later, Benny had convinced her go for a walk.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“All that training will make you blind to the pieces,” he said. She just rolled her eyes at him, but eventually, she had agreed, quite annoyed and not in the mood. Though, he should have listened to her in the first place, because it started pouring down in thick, grey sticks from the sky when they still had about twenty minutes left before they would be back at his flat. They ran.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Soaking wet and short-breathed, they fell through the door. Awkward laughs and exhausted sighs filled the small space. Both started relieving themselves of their wet andsuddenly very tight, sticky clothes.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A stubborn button on Beth’s coat got stuck in her wet hair and no matter how hard she pulled and twisted, it wouldn’t let go.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Benny...” she admittedly sighed and gave up her struggle. He turned around, his blond hair ruffled in wet locks falling over the edges of his face.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I need help.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Seeing how her discontented face scrunched up in a frown like a child, he huffed out a laugh at her. She didn’t even smile.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You’re good at that,” he said as he was detangling the button.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Good at what?” she said, sounding fairly uninterested. But he wasn’t fooled by that tone of voice.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Pretending like you don’t find things you think are funny, funny.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She didn’t respond. The button was almost free.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“It’s funny,” he moronically stated.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She made a sound in disbelief of just how bad of a so-called joke that was.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“See, now you’re supposed to laugh! Or just a little smile would be enough...”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He could finally remove the button from her hair and he dropped the coat on the railing as she turned around to face him.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Benny?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He noticed her eyes fixed on his lips and he swallowed, suddenly unnerved. She let her nimble fingers trace his jawline.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You’re not funny.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">This time she stuck him a sarcastic but shy smile.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I wanna try speed chess again.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">His hand found it’s way to her waist as her own settled on the side of his face and gently played with his hair.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Although, I’m thinking of another version. This time, there’s no money. If I win, you have to remove an article of clothing. And of course the other way around.” A second passed, then she let go of him and walked down the stairs. As she hastily set up the pieces. He smirked and slowly followed suit.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1"><em>Look who’s growing up</em>, he thought as he joined her on the floor.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She caught his eyes.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You play black,” he stated. She didn’t protest. Wanted to give the poor man a chance.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The game was fast. As it was supposed to. There was not a second in which they weren’t moving pieces frantically around.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The first game probably took them just above two minutes. Beth nodded at him. He complied and pulled his shirt over his head with a sigh.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Again.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Two and a half minutes this time. He undid the buckle and dropped his pants to join the shirt on the floor beside them.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“This is getting a bit awkward,” he said, now only in boxers while she was still fully clothed.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Again,” she said, sure of mind.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">This time, he almost had her. Almost. Everything was going smoothly (for Beth) until she missed a window and let him take her bishop, a mistake she hadn’t made in years. She really had to think about a way to beat him which she usually wouldn’t have to. But when the clock read two-fifty-four she reached over the board and knocked over his king.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“What now?” he sighed and said in a slightly annoyed tone. “You’ve made the rules so far... How’s protocol, miss Harmon?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She got up and it felt almost satisfying to look down to him while he sat there, almost naked and completely in her control. He would <em>never</em> ever admit to that himself, but the look on his face gave him away. He looked so coy and confident but she knew she had him in the palm of her hand when he gave her <em>that </em>smile.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Now...” she said, almost solemnly. “Now you owe me one.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He nodded, his smile turning smirky.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I’d like to redeem it.” Another smirk.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Stand,” she said with a gesture. He obliged. They were playing her game, he knew it. He knew it, obviously, and he kept playing. Stayed in character.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He stepped over the board on the floor and closed the distance between them. He almost towered over her as she took his hand, guided it to her back and put the tiny zipper of her dress in his grasp.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He slowly started pulling it down, agonisingly slowly.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“What is your wish?” he continued the play almost as if he acted from a script. The zipper languidly continued travelling down, snappingly breaking the silence.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She got up on her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck. She whispered in his ear as the zipper reached the bottom and he pushed the fabric off of her shoulders to let it pool at her feet.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Simple. I want to have sex with you,” she whispered. Considering how nervous and out-of-field she was feeling, she was very pleased and somewhat surprised with how collected and sure she sounded.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Benny leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her temple before positioning his mouth at her ear.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Granted.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I really like this beginning and also enjoy writing the characters... Hopefully I’ll regain my drive for writing smut, but if I don’t, this is all you get.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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